On 16 August 2022, the Division of Strategy and
Performance Measurement (DSPM) organised a talk titled UTAR Press Kick-Off
at Sungai Long Campus.
Invited to give a talk on different topics were
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Professor at the Department of Applied
Physics, Prof Dato’ Dr Roslan Abd Shukor and DSPM Director Prof Dr Zuraidah
binti Abd Manaf. Prof Dato’ Roslan spoke on how to write an impactful
scholarly book, while Prof Zuraidah explained the UTAR press and publishing
guidelines.
Prof Zuraidah giving her talk
Prof Zuraidah began briefing the participants about
UTAR press guidelines by explaining the reasons for their existence. “There
are a few reasons as to why we have created the UTAR press; to increase
academic choice, support scholarly communication agenda, the dissemination
of scholarship and support for its reuse, improve the university’s
reputation and identity, engage with research funder policies, and
contribute to Malaysia Research Assessment (MyRA) and SETARA score,” said
Prof Zuraidah.
She also explained UTAR’s four basic principles of
academic publishing, which were: 1) UTAR will carry out academic publishing
in the form of books, monographs, journals, etc for students, academics and
the public; 2) UTAR’s publishing efforts are not to seek for profit, but to
encourage academic writing and disseminate knowledge; 3) publications of
different languages can be published; 4) all academics who are interested in
publishing their research under UTAR press have to send their application
for the approval of the UTAR Publications Approval Committee. Prof Zuraidah
also described the processes of publishing UTAR e-books and e-journals.
Prof Dato’ Roslan kicked off his talk by debunking
the myths of writing, saying, “When it comes to writing, a lot of people
have misconceptions like needing inspiration, or writing when one is only in
the mood, or even thinking that they need a complete plot of the story to
begin writing. These are almost always not true, as it varies from writer to
writer. For instance, the great writer Stephen King never needed any
inspiration to write nor did he have a complete idea of how the story would
finish, as he would just sit in his small office every day writing wherever
his mind took him.”
Prof Dato’ Roslan delivering his talk
Prof Dato’ Roslan also explained the different types
of academic books including research books, textbooks, handbooks, Popular
Science, and edited books. Among other topics he shared included the guide
to book publishing, tips for good writing, and Open Access (OA).
The event ended with short Q&A and group photo
sessions.
Prof Zuraidah (front row, third from
left) and Prof Dato’ Roslan (front row, middle) with participants
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